Telluride Association Summer Program
Encyclopedia
Telluride Association Summer Programs, or TASPs, are extremely selective six-week educational experiences for rising high school seniors offering intellectual challenges rarely found in secondary school or even in college. According to CollegeConfidential.com, those who are selected to participate in the TASP program "are likely to get special attention in admission offices when it’s time to apply to college" due to the program's selective nature, with an "application process [that is] equally, if not more, competitive than those of the [Ivy League]". Participants in the TASP program have been described as being some of the "brightest rising high school seniors in the country".
The programs are designed to bring together young and intellectually bright students from around the world who share a passion for learning. The participants, or TASPers, attend an intensive seminar led by college and university faculty members and participate in many educational and social activities outside the classroom. Like the Telluride houses, each TASP receives a discretionary budget, whose use is democratically distributed via weekly house meetings.
Admission to TASP is based on an application that includes six essay prompts and, for some, an interview. In 2009, out of approximately 1000 applicants, 135 were given an interview with members or associates of the Telluride Association
as well as TASP alumni, and a total of 68 students were eventually admitted to the four TASPs, or approximately 6.8% . In 2010, out of more than 1000 applicants, 107 were given an interview and only 50 were admitted to the program, bringing the acceptance rate down to 5%. In 2011, there were approximately 1100 applicants to four TASPs; 133 were selected for interview and 64 were ultimately admitted to the program. This brought the acceptance rate to 5.8%
Many students are invited to apply based on strong standardized test scores, such as by scoring highly on the PSAT, or through the nomination of educators who are familiar with TASP. However, any high school junior may request an application, and acceptance largely ignores standardized test scores and graded academic performance. Like other Telluride programs, TASPs are free.
TASPs also advocate a self-contained community of learning among the TASPers at any one of the four TASP seminars. TASPers are encouraged to engage in activities together outside of seminars. Often, TASPers form intense bonds over six weeks as a result of the self-contained community that forms.
Since the first TASP was held in 1954, TASPs have been held at college and university campuses across the United States, including Cornell, University of Texas at Austin
, Deep Springs College
, Johns Hopkins University
, Williams College
, University of Michigan
, Washington University in St. Louis
, Kenyon College
, and St. John's College. Nationally known faculty who have taught TASP include: John Schaar
(UC Santa Cruz), Hanna Pitkin (UC Berkeley), Donald Kagan
(Yale), Kurt Heinzelman and Sue Heinzelman (University of Texas), Herbert Storing
(University of Chicago), Robert Nozick
(Harvard), Leon Kass
(University of Chicago), and Thomas Palaima (University of Texas). Alumni of TASPs and Telluride Houses include political economist Francis Fukuyama
, literary critic Gayatri Spivak, political theorist William Galston
, former Stanford Law
dean Kathleen Sullivan
, Nobel
laureates in physics Steven Weinberg
and Richard Feynman
, literary critic Paul Wang, Harvard Law School
professor Noah Feldman
, and former World Bank
president Paul Wolfowitz
.
The programs are designed to bring together young and intellectually bright students from around the world who share a passion for learning. The participants, or TASPers, attend an intensive seminar led by college and university faculty members and participate in many educational and social activities outside the classroom. Like the Telluride houses, each TASP receives a discretionary budget, whose use is democratically distributed via weekly house meetings.
Admission to TASP is based on an application that includes six essay prompts and, for some, an interview. In 2009, out of approximately 1000 applicants, 135 were given an interview with members or associates of the Telluride Association
Telluride Association
The Telluride Association is a non-profit organization in the United States that provides young people with free educational programs emphasizing intellectual curiosity, democratic self-governance, and social responsibility. Students are invited to apply based on academic criteria, such as high...
as well as TASP alumni, and a total of 68 students were eventually admitted to the four TASPs, or approximately 6.8% . In 2010, out of more than 1000 applicants, 107 were given an interview and only 50 were admitted to the program, bringing the acceptance rate down to 5%. In 2011, there were approximately 1100 applicants to four TASPs; 133 were selected for interview and 64 were ultimately admitted to the program. This brought the acceptance rate to 5.8%
Many students are invited to apply based on strong standardized test scores, such as by scoring highly on the PSAT, or through the nomination of educators who are familiar with TASP. However, any high school junior may request an application, and acceptance largely ignores standardized test scores and graded academic performance. Like other Telluride programs, TASPs are free.
TASPs also advocate a self-contained community of learning among the TASPers at any one of the four TASP seminars. TASPers are encouraged to engage in activities together outside of seminars. Often, TASPers form intense bonds over six weeks as a result of the self-contained community that forms.
Since the first TASP was held in 1954, TASPs have been held at college and university campuses across the United States, including Cornell, University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, Deep Springs College
Deep Springs College
Deep Springs is a private, all-male , alternative college in Deep Springs, California, in the United States. A two-year college, the institution currently aims for a student body size of 26, though the number is occasionally lower...
, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
, Kenyon College
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...
, and St. John's College. Nationally known faculty who have taught TASP include: John Schaar
John Schaar
John H Schaar is a scholar and political theorist. He is a Professor Emeritus at the [University of California, Santa Cruz]. Schaar was born in Montoursville, PA, USA and raised on a farm in a Lutheran family....
(UC Santa Cruz), Hanna Pitkin (UC Berkeley), Donald Kagan
Donald Kagan
Donald Kagan is an American historian at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece, notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War. 1987-1988 Acting Director of Athletics, Yale University. He was Dean of Yale College from 1989–1992. He formerly taught in the Department of...
(Yale), Kurt Heinzelman and Sue Heinzelman (University of Texas), Herbert Storing
Herbert Storing
Herbert J. Storing was a professor of Constitutional History and Law, the Federalist Papers, and, most notably, the Anti-Federalists. Prior to his death at the age of 49 he had completed most of his annotated seven volume collection of Anti-Federalist writings, The Complete Anti-Federalist, which...
(University of Chicago), Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick was an American political philosopher, most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia , a right-libertarian answer to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice...
(Harvard), Leon Kass
Leon Kass
Leon Richard Kass is an American physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual, best known as proponent of liberal education via the "Great Books," as an opponent of human cloning and euthanasia, as a critic of certain areas of technological progress and embryo research, and for his...
(University of Chicago), and Thomas Palaima (University of Texas). Alumni of TASPs and Telluride Houses include political economist Francis Fukuyama
Francis Fukuyama
Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of...
, literary critic Gayatri Spivak, political theorist William Galston
William Galston
William Galston is a political theorist. He is the Saul I Stern Professor of Civic Engagement and the director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the School of Public Policy of University of Maryland, College Park. In addition, he is a Senior Fellow of Governance at the Brookings...
, former Stanford Law
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
dean Kathleen Sullivan
Kathleen Sullivan
Kathleen Marie Sullivan is a professor at the Stanford Law School and name partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a litigation-only law firm with offices in California, New York, Silicon Valley, Chicago, San Francisco, Germany, London, and Tokyo where she chairs their national appellate...
, Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureates in physics Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles....
and Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
, literary critic Paul Wang, Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
professor Noah Feldman
Noah Feldman
Noah Feldman is an American author and professor of law at Harvard Law School.-Education and career:Feldman grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended the Maimonides School....
, and former World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
president Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz is a former United States Ambassador to Indonesia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank, and former dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University...
.